Principal's blog

Being a leader is a big responsibility and for many of our students it can be an overwhelming and quite terrifying prospect. I recently was fortunate enough to participate in the APHS SRC Induction Ceremony. Honouring and acknowledging our students who have put up their hands to lead our student body and take up the additional responsibilities that goes with this important role.I recognise it is not an easy task for our young leaders. Our student leaders are also teenagers and what do I know about most teenagers is that if a parent, or teacher, or any other adult was to say to a teenager that something was black, the teenager, the epitome of contrariness would often say “no it’s white.” I know that teenagers think they know more about everything and anything than most grownups and for the most part, adolescents really find it hard to understand that we as adults, were once teenagers ourselves. I also know that teenagers desire to be treated as an adult but sometimes struggle to accept the responsibilities of adulthood and it is this struggle that often leads to arguments and conflict, both at school and at home. And finally I know that for any teenager their peer group or friendship group is a very important and powerful force in their lives.The school realises that it is not easy to be a leader and that there is a lot of pressure on young people today to conform and be like everyone else. By now many of you know of my strong commitment to wearing uniform, and getting to school on time and I realise that there is a lot of pressure on young people to take up with the latest trend that contravenes our uniform expectations. Many students will try and stray from our school expectations and once or twice, bend our uniform rules with the wrong jacket “because it was cold and I couldn’t find my school jumper” – but our student leaders know the importance of always making the right choice, the choice to follow our school’s expectations and not conform to whatever the latest fashion trend is, or what their friends may wear.At school we spend a lot of time talking to our students about “choices.” The choices they make now and in the future can have a profound impact on their life. We are fortunate that the students we acknowledge as part of our SRC, consistently make the right choices and are committed to our school expectations.Many thanks also to Ms Mercado and Mr Chin for supporting our school leaders and organising the formal induction of our 2018 Student Representative Council. I would personally like to thank each of our students on there appointment to APHS 2018 SRC and congratulate them:Year 8Patrick DoKhushi KansalKevin HuynhLina Hwang Pallavi KamodaLonna KhuuAkshat Patel Robert PopShruti PrajapatiNushaba RahamanLeena SainiCecilia Tam

​Year 5/6 Information EveningMany thanks to Ms Pinzin, who has organised our Year 5 & 6 Information Evening for next Tuesday at 6pm, in our school library. This evening is about providing information to parents about the wonderful opportunities available to future students of APHS. This evening will provide parents with details of what our new multi-storey, future focused school will offer our students next year.